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For years, the Hotel Aiken has set empty and decaying on the corner of Richland Avenue and Laurens Street in the heart of downtown Aiken but there is hope that a historically-minded developer could be selected earlier next year. Colliers will call for offers from interested developers Dec. 23, Senior Associate Broker Tommy Tapp told the Aiken City Council on Nov.
12. The Aiken City Council selected Colliers to market Hotel Aiken , the Holley House/Motor Court , the Taj Aiken building , the C.C.
Johnson building and the Warneke Cleaners building earlier this year. Edgefield County got another multi-million dollar investment, this time from the West Coast Once the offers are submitted, Colliers will work with the developers to make sure they're complete and clear, Tapp said after Aiken Mayor Teddy Milner asked what would happen afterwards. After that, Colliers will provide the offers to City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh and his staff, Tapp added.
The city staff will evaluate and rank the offers and present a recommendation to the city council. City council will then select a developer with whom they wish to negotiate. Aiken City Council gives initial OK to Jackson Petroleum property sale Negotiating points will include the price the developer will pay to purchase the properties and the timeline of the renovations, Tapp said.
Ten potential developers have toured the properties but it's not clear how many will make offers, Tapp said. Another person toured the properties with the idea of investing in another group's project, he added. The potential developers are about evenly split between hoteliers and apartment/condo developers , Tapp continued.
All want to take advantage of the tax credits available to developers that restore or renovate historic properties, he added. Former officials, governors among those suggested as Donald Trump's energy secretary One universal question and concern for developers is the amount of parking available in downtown Aiken, Tapp said. "Downtown Aiken is vibrant.
Laurens Street is full. So, parking is at a premium," Tapp said. Parking could be at a higher premium in the years ahead.
The city is in the process of constructing a new building on Newberry Street in which the Savannah River National Laboratory could lease space, bringing more people and cars to downtown. Also, the former Municipal Building and the former federal courthouse are being transformed into county offices, bringing even more people and cars downtown. So, "everybody is interested in talking about parking garages," Tapp said.
The Holley House/Motor Court — built in 1981 — is one potential parking garage spot, Bedenbaugh said. Another potential parking garage location could be the parking lot next to the Municipal Building. Before the Aiken City Council and the Aiken Corporation selected a vacant lot on Newberry Street for the new building, the plan was to build it on the site of the Holley House and Warneke Cleaners and the city considered building a parking garage next to the Municipal Building to serve it.
It's not likely the public will get to know the names of the developers, Tapp said after Milner asked if the names those making offers would be disclosed. Several potentially interested developers are concerned that their ideas and evaluations of the potential of the properties could be made public and stolen by another developer, Tapp said. As such, developers aren't likely to be innovative unless they have some privacy, he said.
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